New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-01-19

boy tn wa n ez meny boys ez tn is
now, but whether yev heerd me or,
not, such were the fact. Jedgin'
from W at I've see O. boys nawadays,
an specially durin' the past short
time, l hain't Altered to say th't it'd
be better fer folks in ginner'l if the
fact were jist vicy vercy. Mex to me,
proberly, the best boy th't lived in
our deestric, sixty ears ago an bet
ter, were Ajax Thumply. Ajax wan t
only good but he were tough. Henev-
er went round the country askin' 9TH
er boys if their gan pops was ever
buried alive, an a bettin' the cider
th't they'd say they was. He didn't
waste no time a dom that, but wat
did he do! He iist went an got buried
alive hisself, an I'm glad th't this
Bill Simmons has managed to put me
in mind O. that leetle circumstance
in the hist'ry OF Ajax Thumply.
''The fact th't tn want many boys
in them times give the measles an
the nookin' cough, etcettery, the best
kind of a chance to slosh in their best
ticks, an tn bein' so much on 'em to
spare, 'twa'n n no uncommon thing fer
'em ter visit the boys two or three
times apiece, an keep us either a
whoopin' like a painter, Or swelled up
bout the Jaws like a chipmunk with
two walnuts in each chop, or broke
out like ripe pokeberries from groun'-
hog day till holler-eve. Ajax Thum-
ply seemed to be the fay rit O. all them
blessin's o'childhood an worried out
the mumps three times on both sides,
made the measles tired four different
winters, KEEP his folks awake o. nights,
an checked an ketched his breath
with a reg'lar wild Injun WHO'D whoop!
so long an so often th't the doctor
said it had set in on him to stay, an
th't nothin' less'n a good stroke o.
lightnin' ID cure him. But Ajax got
fat on 'em an they all gave it up ez a
bad job, an he come out of all on EN-
tougher'n ever. Folks said th't tn
WANT nothin' left that could down
Ajax Thumply, an if tn were any one
in the settlement ez doubted he quit
doubtin' arter what happened to Ajax
one spring in the sugar bush.
"Ajax were tappin' trees fer sap,
one spring, all alone in that part O.
the bush. He had bored a hole in one
tree, an were iist q gointer to set his
elder-spile in it, wen swat! come sum-
PIN agin his head, an he didn't quit
flynn through the air till be had gone
sumpin' like forty foot. Ez he struck
on the groun' he looked back an see
th't ez he were tappin' the tree a big
bar mad come up ahind an tapped
him. The bar didn't wait fer Ajax
to get up, but follered him right up.
Alex didn't hev nothin' to fgth with,
so wat does he do but play off dead,
knowing th't at th't season o'they year
bars d lug their fodder home
fore they put it inside OF 'emselfs, an,
hopin' th't sumpin' ID turn up to git
him outen the scrape. The b ar shifted
round Ajax while, an then begun
to lug him off. They hadn't gone fur,
though, wen the bar stopped an
dropped his game. Ajax opened his
eyes a leetle by an by an wat does
he see but the cheerin' prospec' O.
bein' slowed away in the ground, an
the bar were diggin' away for dear
life to scoop out the buryin' place. At
this A ax kinder lost his grit leetle,
an he couldn't hev stirred an inch if
he'd know'd it, ID save his life The
bar want long digging the hole, an
fore Ajax scarcely know'd it he were
dumped inter it an the BAR were
shuckin' the dirt an stuns in on top
O him. Ajax were poorly near hid
fore he diskivered th't he had hung
onter the elder Spite all that time.
The Spite had half inch hole through
1t from one eend to to'other, The ba'r
had his back to Ajax iist then, shovel
in in the dirt. Quicker'n a. flash
Ajax clasps one end O the splice to
his nose, an lets the elder stick
straight up through the dirt, and wen
the b ar got through Ajax had a reg
lar ehimbley from the outside, carry
al fresh air right down to him, The
dirt bore a leetle heavy on Ajax, O.
course, but he commenced to dig it
away, KNOWN, that it were only a
question O. time w en- the bar would
! come back, onkiver him, ant chaw a
dinner often HIM. Ajax We're jist am
hour an twentyminutes gitten, outen
that hole. an though his grit. had all
come back to him, he argyed th't it
We're picnic enough to be buried alive
by a bar an git out ag'in without
waitin' to be chawed up by bruin, an
so Ajax made tracks fur hum, the best
feelin' ten-year-old tn were in. the
clearin'. AFTER that everybody said
tn want nothin', fer sure, th't could
get away with Ajax Thumply. But
jist listen a leetle more.
81 dom s'pose th't you'd have the
cheek to say th't you're ez tough ez
Ajax were, Peleg, an yit see how he
ended up. One day, not long arter he
were buried alive, he were havin' q
leetle discussion with a boy bout
sumpin' th't Aiax's poor OF gran poI
had or hadn't done. Sumpin' sim lar
come to think on it, to this Bill Sim
mons way O. dom business. Tit
boy poorly soon said to Ajax th't5if il
wan t SO wat he said TIL Ajax coulc
come over to his house an have al
the cider he he could take inter hin
4 through a straw. Well. it Want sc